<eyebeam><blast> Closing Statement

[olu oguibe <ooguibe@undp.org>]

farewell, my friends...

i thought i should say adios after eve. my posts to this list have been
irregular at best, often made with the intent to spike, spice, nudge and
needle us into or along some path. many questions have been raised in
the course of these discussions, and many have been left unanswered.
that is the nature of forums such as this. but this is far from the end.
eve has brought us to the end of the party as vitruvius makes her
triumphal entry. the business cards are changing hands, and the address
and telephone books are out. already, many are fearful of the impending
hangover, and even more, of the withdrawal syndrome; the loneliness and
loss that will set in over the next few days as we boot up and hook up
and find that, alas, <eyebeam><blast> is off the air. however, the joys
and irritations that we have brought to each other all these weeks will
remain, and so will the archive. and the contacts and friendships and
new collaboration ideas. i'm off to geneva on May 6, from where i go to
Lisbon on May 15, and Las Palmas on May 20, and finally Sydney on May
23, and who knows who i meet on my way to the land of Oz? "hello, mr
oguibe, i read your posts on the <eyebeam><blast> forum and thought i
should come up and introduce myself." "hi, i read your posts on that
list and there were some points you made that i strongly disagreed with.
i thought i should bring them up and see what you've got to say for
yourself." "hey, you may not remember me but i contributed quite a few
posts to that list, and i enjoyed yours. how long are you in town for?
i'd be glad to show you around." that is only half the fun. i look
forward to the ripples and reverberations as we go beyond this forum,
asking and exchanging, teasing and expatiating, dissing and discovering,
pushing the limits of the numerous discourses that we have touched upon
here. on my part i would love to hear more from all those who
contributed to, or are interested in, the discussions around the
internet and otherness, location/relocation, the net and the art media,
questions of geography and access, as well as the challenges of digital
practise. thanks to the excellent management of our organizers, we have
shown great restraint in our depositions, and magnanimity to each other
while remaining clear and firm in our convictions wherever necessary. i
have tuned into some of the discussions more than others, even when i
was unable to contribute. oladele's bamgboye's posts in the last days of
the forum resonated for me on several levels, and so did those of my
friend and colleague gilane tawadros. carlos basualdos and brian holmes
kept me on the edge throughout with their sharp, extremely deep and i
dare say, very humanist contributions--it was a pleasure to meet in
madrid, carlos, btw. my friend clifford duffy gave me the greatest joy
with the poetry and wisdom in his posts. bracha showed extreme
generosity in her responses to the issues that were raised around
language, scholarship, and access. my gratitude. again, jordan, greg of
emerAgency, eve andree, dj spooky that subliminal kid, alan sondheim,
ravi sundaram, joy garnett, our numerous and patient guests, all those
who have brought richness and grace to these discussions through their
participation and enthusiasm, my hat, ladies and sires. in the end, let
us revisit all that we have heard and read over the past few months, all
the issues and questions and allusions and speculations, and ultimately,
let us return to those issues that matter most in our areas of work and
concern with the intent to make something positive of the tools and
intelligence at our disposal, and forge our moment and place in history.
as bob dylan says, the best is always yet to come. i thank you all. ya
gazie nu.

olu oguibe, tampa, florida
http://www.arts.usf.edu/~ooguibe





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